Re: Documentation Management

[David Lettvin <dlettvin -at- YAHOO -dot- COM>]

Svi makes an excellent point. Engineers have a basic deep-seated urge
to correct things.

Here are some other ways to pry the information loose:

Reward - after you get some information from a developer, give them
something. Something small like a can of soda or (my favorite) a box
of crackerjacks. You're not after a Pavlovian response, but many
developers are more comfortable with personal rather than corporate
relationships.

Importance - make sure the developer knows that you think that the
project is important, not just to the engineer's career and yours, but
to the company, the country and . . . the world. How far you take it
is up to you, but most developers feel that their work is the most
important, or should be.

Recognition - when you get some information from a developer, write an
email to the project manager or someone in senior management *with a
cc to the IP*, mentioning the IP by name as having been of significant
help. (You might want to warn the PM or manager that you're going to
do this, so they won't be surprised by the sudden onslaught of
messages.

Some simple rules:
Have fun.
Take the role of a student.
Simple cheap gifts are the best rewards (one of my writers bakes
cookies, another uses the toys you get in plastic bubbles out of
vending machines)
Don't disparage their comments about your writing, acknowledge it as
intelligent criticism, but stand your ground as an expert.
Don't beg, plead, or become a real SOB. It won't help. Don't demand,
do seduce.

You are a manager as well as a writer/designer. If you're not running
into this kind of situation fairly regularly, your life is too easy.
;->

This won't guarantee success, but I bet it will help.

---Svi Ben-Elya <svi -at- ELIASHIM -dot- CO -dot- IL> wrote:
> Try writing what you THINK the product does and how you THINK it
works. In
> many cases this will cause the IPs to point out your errors and
explain why
> you were wrong.

In response to Keith Bennet who asked:
> >My two questions are: is the writer a manager as well as writer, and
> >also, should I walk away from this project which seems to be more
> >documentation management (even though the IPs seem to value this
process
> >to a small degree), or try to slug it out. It seems as though I've
got
> >to beg, plead, and become a real SOB, write well, and provide graphic
> >design skills for this position all at once. Am I Super Technical
Writer
> >here or what? Help.

==
Honi soit qui mal y pense.

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